8 Important Things to Look For When Hiring A Commercial Cleaning Company

As your business and company grow, so as its needs. All of a sudden you find yourself moving to a bigger location, hiring more people, and investing in more modern equipment to meet the demands of a growing business. Along with growth comes more responsibilities, one of which is keeping your workplace clean, comfortable, and conducive for work. You may consider hiring commercial cleaning services to take care of the cleaning and maintenance of your office for you. But how do you really hire a cleaning company? With lots of choices of cleaning services that claim to have the best cleaning solutions, choosing a commercial cleaning service provider can be daunting.

Finding a reputable commercial cleaning service contractor to keep your workspace not just clean, but also safe and healthy for your employees, customers, business partners, and clients is one of the most important decisions you will make. Thus, it is important to do your due diligence and research for the factors that you need to look for. Fortunately for you, this entry will help you make that decision.

Here are the most important things to look for when looking for commercial office cleaning services.

Reputation

Let’s start with the most obvious and probably the most important one – reputation. 

Good reputation = High-Quality Work

Every commercial cleaning services provider will claim to have the best cleaning solutions, updated COVID cleaning guidelines, extensive deep cleaning methods, environmentally friendly and safe and healthy cleaning solutions and cleaning products, industrial-grade cleaning supplies, and the most highly trained professional team of cleaners. However, saying you have all of these things is one thing, but delivering high quality work is another.

When searching for a commercial cleaning company, make sure you consider its reputation. A good cleaning company will take care of its name and reputation through high quality work, good customer service, and affordable if not reasonable rates. 

Look for Reviews

You probably already have a cleaning service company or two in mind. You can start your research by visiting their website and checking their social media pages. Check their customer satisfaction ratings, client testimonials, and customer reviews from their current and former clients. This will give you a good idea of how they go about their business. 

Review the reviews

Also, it pays to be cynical when reading these reviews. Some companies make fake accounts and hire other people to make fake reviews with flying colors. So, review the reviewers too. Check the profile and pages of people who submitted their reviews; do they look like real human profile accounts or existing companies? If possible, you can contact these people and ask about their experience with the commercial cleaning company in question.

On the other hand, if you don’t have any ideas about which office cleaning company to hire yet, consider asking for references from other businesses in your area. If a commercial cleaning company is actually good, it will be highly recommended by word of mouth. 

Competency

Cleaners’ Expertise and Safety Training

It is easy to assume that professional commercial cleaning is a simple task and that the job doesn’t require any specialties, extensive training, and certifications. The truth is, it is anything but easy. Cleaning services for commercial purposes is a specialized job.

For a cleaning services company to start their operation, they have to get accreditations and certifications from the government, which includes training of their cleaning team, training for proper handling, use, storage, and disposal of special cleaning solutions and cleaning products, training for using industrial-grade cleaning equipment, cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing various surface areas and establishments, handling and disposal of hazardous waste, etc. This means being a professional commercial cleaner takes a lot of training. 

With a dedicated team of office cleaners in Gold Coast, Commercial Clean Group guarantees a professional and efficient cleaning service tailored to your specific needs.

A good commercial cleaning services provider understands the nuances of keeping any commercial establishment clean. More importantly, they stand by their cleaning team and the cleaning services they deliver. They have extensive checklists to ensure that each area, room, and space in the workplace gets ample attention. Moreover, cleaning experts are highly trained to handle trouble spots, mildew growth, mold infestations, etc. This is the type of commercial cleaning provider you need to look for. 

Specialized Services

Different businesses and commercial facilities have different cleaning needs. Thus, just because one cleaning company gets tens, if not hundreds of good reviews from one type of business, doesn’t automatically mean it is the best choice for yours too.

Most commercial cleaning companies offer specialized services or specialty cleans for your specific needs. Some of the specialty cleaning services you may need are:

• Windows and glass cleaning

• Pressure cleaning

• Vinyl floor cleaning

• Tile grout cleaning

• Carpets and upholstery cleaning

• Warehouse cleaning

• Green cleaning

• Preventative and maintenance cleaning.

You cannot go wrong with companies that offer these specialized services, as they have the crew and tools to handle such tasks.

Moreover, the best cleaning service providers offer customized cleaning plans to give you the most comprehensive cleaning you need for your workplace. 

Flexible Scheduling

It is also important to check whether the cleaning company offers flexible scheduling of their cleaning services. Many companies offer flexible cleaning schedules where they schedule their cleaning after regular business hours. This is important for businesses that don’t want their operations to get disrupted by the cleaning. 

Green Cleaning

More and more commercial cleaning service providers are going green. This is great news for environmentally-conscious businesses, as cleaning companies have certifications that will help businesses earn green certifications or help them achieve their environmental goals in all aspects of their business operations.

Another area of competence aside from the quality of the skills of the training staff is the crew themselves. They should wear their company’s uniforms, ID badges, and behave professionally. 

Insurance Coverage and bonding

Another important question you need to ask your potential office cleaning provider is whether their services come with insurance or not. If they say no, or if they cannot give you a clear and definite answer, then you walk away.

These cleaners will get full access to your business premises and clean high-value items, such as computers, servers, printers, photocopying machines, TVs, etc. With all the deep cleaning that they need to do, and all the equipment, tools, and cleaning solutions they need to bring with them, accidents can happen. To protect your business from any financial losses, their service should come with insurance and must be bonded.

A cleaning services company should have at least a general liability and worker’s compensation insurance. A bond is a welcome sign that they are willing to invest in their cleaning company, as it means they are in it for the long haul.

Employee Status

A lot of cleaning services companies outsource their workers or hire subcontractors. This could mean they didn’t conduct their own background checking and screening of their cleaners. If this is the case, then it is safe to say they know very little about who they send out to clean your business establishment.

To save yourself from any potential legal problems or risks of dealing with incompetent cleaners in your business establishment, you should do a little digging into their employees and their subcontractor’s legal status. This is because this can affect the insurance and bonding of the company, as outsourced workers are considered independent contractors, NOT employees. 

Free Quotes and Proposals

Most commercial cleaning companies provide free estimates and cleaning plan proposals. However, some don’t, and these are the ones you should definitely avoid.

Free estimates and proposals will give you a good idea of their work; the cost of the whole service, the scope of their cleaning, details of their cleaning (schedules, type of cleaning, materials used, itemization, etc.), and the responsibilities for all parties involved. This removes the guesswork and the risks of unmet expectations. 

Method of communication

Most commercial cleaners conduct their cleaning at night to avoid disrupting the daily operations of their clients and allow them to do a thorough deep cleaning. While this is good, this can make the communication between them and their clients a bit challenging. Thus, when looking for a commercial cleaning or office cleaning company, make sure you ask how your parties are going to communicate with each other (email or phone?). This is very important especially if you have specific instructions for the cleaners, or if issues arise during their cleaning (who should they call?). 

Cleaning for COVID-19

The new normal demands a new type of cleaning that is more thorough deep cleaning which includes disinfection and sterilization of the entire workplace. Aside from that, they should be on top of every new cleaning guideline or change in the protocols set by the authorities. The Takeaway

At the end of the day, the best commercial cleaning company for your business or office is the one that meets all your specific cleaning needs and answers your calls. When deciding on a cleaning company, choose the one that you feel most comfortable with.